Masteries

Offense:
21

Defense:
9

Utility:
0

Introduction

Dr. Mundo is a tank. However, he's not a tank with a hard CC, leaving one at a bit of a loss as to how one is going to protect the squishies and continue to project force down a lane. The answer is to relentlessly destroy anyone who makes the mistake of being in range, up to and including turrets. Yes, dear reader, the Madman of Zaun murders inanimate objects and people alike.

Summoner Spells

The Best

Rally - This gives you a group heal, a group damage buff, and even an extra minion to tank a couple of turret hits rolled all into one. In combination with a Sivir, a Tristana, or a Taric, it's simple to ride your monster truck straight over a turret even as the enemy attempts to burn you down.

Teleport - Unlike the blue pill, Teleport doesn't break on taking damage. This gives it utility for escape as well as simply bringing yourself back to the fight, and in conjunction with a Heimer, Shaco, or Teemo, provides a large amount of backdoor potential. It's also useful for laning, as you can dip over to other lanes to help defend against early ganks. Mundo goes where he pleases.

Exhaust - This is the closest thing Mundo can get to a hard CC. It helps chasing, it can save a squishy's life, and even Truck Mundo can enjoy the benefit of lowered resists.

The Acceptable

Ghost - Mundo is already fast, why not make him faster? It's useful for escapes, but better teamwork and map awareness reduce the need for escapes, and it lacks in map mobility to Teleport. Passing through minions is rarely worth it, though it is hilarious on occasion to sucker someone into aggroing jungle creeps with an AoE effect.

Cleanse - Do you regularly face pure CC teams? Do they, for some reason, have a tendancy to focus on you rather than on Teemo, Gangplank, or Annie? Then this is the spell for you.

Everything Else

Did you take heal? Did you take revive? Mundo think you a big sissy!

Masteries

Mundo can't use utility masteries, and doesn't use much of the deep defense tree. The only option here is 21/9/0, and we're going to use Nimbleness to help alleviate taking boots other than Swiftness. Hit them like a truck with no brakes, and you won't need the defense tree.

Runes

Marks: I use crit chance here because I already have a set of them, it's entirely possible armor penetration provides better damage.

Seals: Seals are always hard to buy, but I find dodge is something that's hard to come by and nearly every character can use. They also stack nicely with my preferred item build.

Glyphs: More ults for Mundo! The only thing you can consider replacing cooldown per level with for mundo are likely Magic Resistance Runes, but given that you'll get far more use out of cooldown per level glyphs for every other character in the game, I stick with these.

Quints: Starting with an extra hundred health at level 1 is amazing for any character. I can't imagine replacing these with anything.

Skill Analysis

Passive - Adrenaline Rush. This regens .3% of your health per second. As most of the health regen in the game is listed as per 5, this can be a bit underwhelming on first glance, but in conjunction with a high health pool and Spirit Visage, this contributes more than you think.

Q - Infected Cleaver. This skill is Mundo. It hits weak points for massive damage on every throw, has a strong slow effect, and has a tiny cooldown. It's a skillshot, but it's incredibly fast, so once you get used to the hitbox you can pull off some great trick shots between minions and around their hitboxes. It also has the most satisfying sound effect in the game, and renders you easily capable of jungling and soloing things like Dragon when you please.

W - Burning Agony. AoE magic damage, consuming your health while it runs, and lowering the duration of CC. It scales with ability power for unknown reasons. This is the last thing you're going to be dealing with, but once you get it the sudden spike of CC survivability and farming capability are greatly appreciated. Just don't run yourself to death forgetting to toggle it off.

E - Masochism. No gimp suits involved, just thirty-inch purple pythons running wild... which is considerably less disturbing than it sounds. This spell wrecks faces, turrets, inhibitors, faces, and even more faces. At level five, this toggle gives you 100 damage, plus 1 damage for every percentage of health you're missing. This is better than any attack item in the game, and gives you incredible pushing power even before you dip into any offensive items. Plus, you headbutt people to death, which every Mundo loves.

R - Sadism. This is your ult. This is why, when you take a scenic tour of Mundoville, the funeral home is out of business and the morgue is empty. The health regen and duration stays the same (50% regen in 12 seconds) but the movement speed bonus you get maxes out at 35%. It's entirely possible for you to chase down a Nidalee, especially if you ignore my love for Teleport and take Ghost. It has a low cooldown, like all of Mundo's abilities but does have a more stringent cost in health than the others. Try to toggle it before you engage, because being stunned can reduce you to too low health to survive a teamfight, whereas being stunned with Sadism running leaves you tanky like Abrams.

Laning Partners

Mundo will typically be called upon to lane with a carry, protecting them and setting them up for kills. He's great in conjunction with a ranged stun or burst damage, but be wary of a double melee lane. Gangplank and Ashe are among your best partners, as they have farm bonuses to help them keep up with all those last hits you're getting from masochism crits and cleavers, as well as strong burst damage potential.

You've got the tools to put up a strong showing against any lane pairing, but be wary of Twitch and Blitzcrank. Eve and Shaco are scrawny enough you can often turn around ill-advised attacks with a headbutt and a cleaver, but Twitch strikes from range, and Blitzcrank denies you the chance to pop your ult before engaging.

Build Details

Doran's Shield is simply too sweet a deal to pass up. With health quints and a dorans, you can have nearly 800 health at level one, and even with a four-second cooldown, regenerate the entire health cost of a cleaver before it's usable again.

If you bought a pot, Mundo thinks you a big sissy.

We're going to buy Visage BEFORE boots. Why? Because in early game, things like Ghost and Teleport are unlikely to be needed in a life or death situation, and Mundo can sit in a lane nearly forever, making a single trip for visage quite palatable. Regen bead is a mere 250 gold, so if you find yourself sorely pressured you can pick that up and find a bit of relief.

We're NOT going to buy Boots of Swiftness. The tendancy for sissy Mundoes to get this item honestly confuses me a bit. Teamfights don't care how fast you are until they're won or lost, turrets aren't impressed by your sweet nikes, and your alternatives are far better for survivability within the actual fight.

Ninja Tabi or Mercury Treads are going to be preferred, dependent upon enemy team composition. This build uses Tabi, because the only caster who provides a strong threat to Mundo is Fiddlesticks, and because matrix dodge Mundo is hilarious.

Every good Mundo buys a Warmogs. If you don't like Warmogs, you're playing the wrong character.

From here, there's a wide array of options, almost none of which matter because the game has likely ended while you're charging up your Warmogs, blithely knocking over turrets and cracking skulls with cleaver. The listed item build is for those one in a hundred games that aren't over yet, but leave you with space and ability to farm enough gold to buy things.

Atma's Impaler gives you more armor, more crit, and more damage, which Mundo loves, especially since it scales with your health, and warmogs gives a metric tonne of that.

Phantom Dancers provide attack speed, movement speed, and dodge chance. Tabi, runes, and a phantom give you a 33% dodge chance, and as no one ever buys sword of the divine, you might as well consider that 33% damage mitigation against physical carries. A faster truck to plow into your enemy's base is always welcome, and there's not really anything else you can buy that gives you such a sweet combination of benefits.

Good alternatives include Stark's Fervor and Aegis of the Legion, assuming your team doesn't already have them, Last Whisper, or simply buying and maintaining an Elixir of Fortitude for final push scenarioes. Collect yourself an Oracles sometime during the game, the team will love you.

Bad alternatives include Frozen Mallet (massive cost, minor damage improvement, cleaver takes care of slow for you) and Force of Nature (massive cost. regen rather than base health). If your game is lasting forever and you want more tankiness, buy another mogs.

In Conclusion

When Mundo has Q, Mundo press butan. When Mundo has E, Mundo headbutts the enemundo. Mundo hits like a truck made of cleavers and full of smaller angry Mundoes with cleavers. Mundo never, ever dies, and all screenshots to the contrary are Photoshopped. In the League of Legends, THIS IS WHERE THE POWER LIES!